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Anoesis at Summerhall

Allan Radcliffe

August 20 2013, 1:01am, The Times

The painful memories start stirring before we’ve taken our seats. Two teenage boys in white shirts note down our names at the door. We are ushered into a space reminiscent of a school assembly hall. After the register has been taken we’re instructed to turn over the exam papers on our desks and complete the first page. And then that most chilling phrase thunders around the room: “You will need to stay until the end.”

In this immersive piece, devised and performed by the Glasgow-based young people’s company Junction 25, the 14-strong ensemble turn the tables on their elders, involving us in a series of vignettes that evoke the pressures and absurdities of school and teenage life. A long-buried anxiety resurfaces in the first five…